One or the Other
by TheSkandranon
Summary: Two brothers want your attention, which should you choose? Reader insert AtemxReaderxYuugi
1. First Meeting

You walked down the street towards what you hoped was Domino High School. Domino City was so big. You were from a smaller town called Yonaguni in the Okinawa region, but your dad had gotten a promotion at work that required him and his family to move. You were rather upset about it when your parents first told you, and you still were. But they seemed so excited, you couldn't dampen their spirits. So you pretended to be happy about it too. But in actuality you were devastated inside. You've never been to a city before; Yonaguni's population wasn't even 2,000 people. You just knew you were going to get lost. Plus, you heard in the cities, there were plenty of mugging, and also perverts all over the place. You just knew someone was going to pull a knife on you or something.

So there you were, walking to a school full of strangers scaring yourself silly with horrible scenarios in your head. You wrapped your arms around yourself trying to pull yourself together. You were so preoccupied you didn't hear hurried footsteps approaching. So when you reached a corner you weren't expecting it when someone ran into you. As you fell to the ground you shrieked in terror, certain you were about to be mugged at the least.

"I'm sorry, are you alright?"

The soft kind voice was so unexpected that you gasped softly to yourself and glanced up. To your surprise, you saw a young boy in a blue school uniform with soft innocent eyes. But what was really surprising was his hair. If it had been down like a normal person's it probably would have been quite long. But as it was, it was spiked into seven points with purple around the edges and gold bangs. He also had a large chain around his neck that held a rather large upside down pyramid pendant with an Egyptian eye on it.

"Miss?"

You glanced back at his face. It was such an innocent face that most of the fears that had been swarming around inside you were immediately eased.

"Yes, I'm alright. Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Sorry, neither was I. My brother came up sick today, so I'm running late and was running without looking for others."

He smiled at you and reached his hand down to help you up. He looked so small you didn't think he'd be able to pull you up but you took his hand anyways.

"What's our name? I see you're wearing a Domino High uniform, but I don't think I've seen you before."

"Oh, I'm (L/N), (L/N) (F/N). I just moved here so today will be my first day."

"Ah, that'll be why."

"So you're going to Domino High as well? Could you lead me there? I'm afraid I'm not sure where it is."

"Sure, that'll be no problem."

"Thanks. Um, didn't you say you were late? Shouldn't we get going?"

"Oh no, you're right! Let's go!"

With that exclamation he took off, glancing back to make sure you were following.

As you ran after the boy, you discovered you had hurt your knee when you fell. But you couldn't worry about that now. You had to follow your new friend to get to school.

The boy directed you in a hurried fashion to the principal's office and he took off for his class. As you entered the office and bowed respectively, you hoped your little friend arrived at class on time.

Shortly afterwards the principal told you which class you were going to be in and led you to the correct room. He asked you to wait in the hallway a few moments.

You had no idea why you had to wait, but you did and leaned back against the wall and lifted your weight off your leg with the injured knee.

What would it be like in a school this big? What about your new friend (if he could be called a friend since you didn't know his name)? And you wondered if you would eventually meet Moto Yuugi here.

You've always loved Duel Monsters and had a pretty strong deck if you do say so yourself. In fact you had been the strongest player in Yonaguni.

And then you heard about the dueling tournament held by Pegasus J. Crawford himself, and then the other one held by Kaiba Seto. And you were blown away that one high school boy had won both tournaments. Another thing that blew your mind was that two such dueling legends like Kaiba Seto and Moto Yuugi were located in the same city.

You weren't able to see a picture of either of them, but you were sure you'd eventually meet Moto Yuugi. You also hoped you'll be able to meet Kaiba Seto as well. Who knew how things would turn out?

At that moment the door opened and the principal invited you in.

You walked in, a little nervous, and stood by the teacher's desk looking over the class. You were surprised to see your friend in front of you, and you smiled a little at him.

Before he could smile back the red haired female teacher invited you to introduce yourself.

"Oh, I'm (L/N) (F/N). It's nice to meet everyone."

You bowed deeply with your hands on your thighs.

"Alright (L/N)-san," the teacher said briskly. She seemed to be the no nonsense type. "You can sit in the vacant desk by the window."

You looked where the teacher indicated and saw you were sitting behind the boy you met this morning.

A little relieved that you were, you made your way to your seat. He turned and smiled at you then turned back facing the teacher. So you figured you were right in thinking that the teacher was strict and would get you two into trouble for talking.

Not wanting to get into trouble on your first day, nor get your friend in trouble, you pulled out your notebook and pencil to get ready for the class.

After the class was over and the teacher left, the boy turned towards you.

"Wow, I didn't think we'd be in the same class."

"Yeah, kinda strange huh? Did you make it to class on time?"

He frowned, "No, I was late. I have to clean the room after school today."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's because you were helping me wasn't it?"

He rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly, "I'd say it's more because I practically bowled you over."

"What!?" came a loud exclamation of outrage. You turned and saw a tall blond boy standing over you two.

"You mean you flattened a pretty girl on your way here today? I sure hope you apologized." He leaned down and glared into your friend's eyes.

You blushed hotly at the comment to your appearance while your friend hastily assured him he had.

"All right then," he said, standing up straight. "I guess I can forgive you." Then he turned towards you. "Hi, my name is Katsuya Jonouchi. You've probably heard of me."

Your mind lit up, "Yes, I have actually. You won second place in Duelist Kingdom and then fourth place in Battle City."

Jonouchi looked stunned for a few seconds, as if surprised someone would actually recognize his skills. Then he grinned and opened his mouth to say something, then an even taller boy with pointed brown hair wrapped his arm around Jonouchi's shoulders and leaned on him.

"Wow, someone knows you Jonouchi, that's a first."

You wondered what he meant, everyone in the dueling community should know of him.

"Well, I can guarantee she'd never heard of you, you nimrod."

"We'll just see about that." The tall boy stood up and pointed his thumb to himself, "The name's Honda Hiroto."

You drew a blank, "No, I'm sorry, but the name doesn't ring a bell."

Honda sweat dropped, and then a girl with short brown hair stepped up next to him. "Well, you shouldn't be surprised. She probably knows Jonouchi's name because she likes Duel Monsters. If so, she wouldn't know your name since you don't really play."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right. Hi, I'm Mazaki Anzu. You wouldn't have heard of me either."

"No, I haven't. But that doesn't matter. I know you now."

"Yep, that's true. But we're missing lunch. You want to join us?"

"Oh, sure. Thank you."

You reached for your bag and pulled out your bento lunch.

"Alright, let's go then," Anzu said and turned.

You stood up to follow them, but your injured knee gave out and you crashed to the floor with a small cry.

"(L/N)-san, are you alright?" Anzu asked, worry tinging her voice.

"Sorry, it's my knee. I, ah, hurt it earlier."

"Wait, is that from when I ran into you this morning?"

You didn't want your friend to feel guilty (and you can tell right away that he was the type to feel guilty about this kind of situation), but you didn't want to lie either, so you nodded.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry. And then after that we ran here. It must hurt a lot. Let's get you to the nurse's office."

"No, I'll be alright." You tried to get up, but Jonouchi and Honda stopped you.

"No, I also think you should go to the nurse's office. Need to make sure it's not too serious right?" Well, you gotta hand it to Jonouchi, he did make sense there.

You looked up at the faces of your new friends, and saw concern in each one, and gave in.

"Fine then. Where is the nurse?"

Honda took your arm and gently lifted you up and raised your arm over his shoulder.

"Hey, I can walk myself."

"Yeah, I know, but this'll be less painful."

You looked at everyone, a little surprised that they were so concerned for you, you had just met them. You were so surprised that you didn't object when Honda started walking, along with everyone else.

"Well the good news is that you haven't damaged your knee, just bruised it rather spectacularly."

You looked at your knee and sure enough, it was starting to purple. Great, with the blue miniskirts that were part of the school's uniform for girls, everyone would see it.

"Just ice it tonight and most of the pain will be gone. Here's an ice pack for now."

The nurse handed you an ice pack, you thanked her and pressed it against your knee. It actually did feel pretty good.

"I'm really sorry (L/N)-chan. I didn't mean to hurt you." Your little friend hung his head in guilt.

"It's alright, I know you didn't intend to hurt me."

He still looked guilty and troubled, but you didn't know what else to say.

"Heh, heh our little Yuugi packs quite a punch when he wants to huh?"

"Hey, it's not as if I wanted to hit her."

You lost track of the friendly argument. Your mind blanked, and then whirled.

Jonouchi called your little friend Yuugi. THE Yuugi? Moto Yuugi? Really? Now that you thought of it, it is said that Katsuya Jonouchi and Moto Yuugi were personal friends, so it made sense.

You just couldn't believe it. The first person you met in Domino City was the one and only legendary Moto Yuugi.

* * *

**A/N: It's funny how sometimes the story you're writing can just run away with you and not follow the plans you had for it. This was originally supposed to be a one shot story, but it has turned into a multi-chapter fic. Stories have a mind of their own don't they?**

**So, this'll be my first time writing a Yu-Gi-Oh! story. I hope you all like it. I was requested to write a reader insert love triangle between the reader, Yuugi, and Atem. I know Atem hasn't shown up in the story yet, but he will feature quite prominently in the next chapter so look forward to that. And I think that Kaiba might even make an appearance in the story as well. We'll see if I can fit him in.  
**

**The person who commissioned this story asked for the Japanese names (which I prefer as well), but it's been a very very long time since I've watched Yu-Gi-Oh! in subs, so there will be more references to the dubbed versions than the subbed one (like Jonouchi calling Honda a nimrod).  
**


	2. Second First Meeting

You leaned against a wall tapping the tip of your shoe against the pavement. Today was Sunday and so a day off from school. And your friends had decided to take you to various places within Domino City. And since the arcade was relatively close to your place, they decided to meet there. You liked to be a little early meeting with others, particularly if you weren't too familiar with the area. Gave you time to figure out where you were going if you got lost.

So you put on some of your favorite clothes, a light gray pair of pants (to cover up the bruise that was still evident on your knee), a white button up shirt and your (F/C) purse to add a little color to your outfit and headed for the arcade. But you hadn't gotten lost on your way here so you were early. Well no biggie, you didn't mind waiting. And it gave you time to think.

When you had figured out that the boy you had made friends with was the Moto Yuugi, you were shocked, but managed to hide it. You thought it might have hurt his feelings, for you were expecting someone different. Someone taller for one thing, but also someone with more presence or something like that. The real Yuugi was childlike with a love for games of all kinds. He was also very sweet and considerate, and greatly treasured his friends. You were actually a little relieved; the real Yuugi was easy to make friends with and to get along with as well.

If you had known who he was before you made friends with him, you probably would have been flustered and also probably would have thought he wouldn't want to make friends with a backwards small town girl like you, so you wouldn't have tried. You were glad you hadn't known. You would have missed out on having such wonderful friends. They really made you feel welcome to their circle.

And with your friends telling you about the city, you had mostly lost your fear of muggers for the most part and didn't worry too much as you waited. That was until a large firm hand clamped over your mouth from behind and then roughly pulled you around the corner into the alleyway behind you.

There a man roughly pushed your back against the wall with his hand still over your mouth, and then pulled a knife out of his pocket and pressed it against your neck.

"Hand over the purse sweetheart!" the man demanded.

From the second he prevented a call for help from you, you had started trembling and lost all your freshly discovered confidence in the city and all you could think of was to give him what he wanted. Maybe he wouldn't hurt you if you did.

So with shaky hands you handed over your (F/C) purse. Taking his hand away from your mouth, but leaving the knife at your throat, he took your purse, and then looked back at your face.

"Hey, you're not bad looking sweetheart."

Your eyes widened in increased fear. It seemed both of your previous fears about the city were about to come true at the same time.

You inhaled deeply to scream, but he roughly covered your mouth again, cutting your lip.

"Now, now sweetheart. You don't want to be ending the fun early on now, do you?"

"Is that what you call fun?"

You knew that voice; it was your friend Yuugi. But his voice was different somehow, more confident sounding. Suddenly your fear turned from you to your friend. Yuugi was no kind of fighter. He couldn't win against this man, especially since he had a knife.

At the sound of Yuugi's voice the man turned, pulling you with him and braced your back against himself with the knife still against your throat.

"Release her and I'll let you go free."

"Heh, heh kid, I think I have the advantage here. You don't want this pretty little lady's lovely skin marred do you? So you just walk away and forget what you saw here."

In a way you hoped Yuugi would leave, you didn't want your friend hurt. But then you didn't want him to leave you alone with this man either.

"You only think you have the advantage here vermin."

With that statement Yuugi pulled his deck out of his pocket.

The man laughed heartily, "And what do you think you can do with some child's playing cards?"

"Do not mock the heart of the cards. My deck has never failed me." Quick as thought, Yuugi flung one of his cards towards you and your captor. Then, inexplicably you felt the knife pull away from your neck as the card knocked it from the man's hands.

For a couple seconds you and the man froze in surprise. Then your courage flared to life and you did something you were too scared to do with the knife against your throat. You elbowed him in the gut, causing him to double over gasping for breath.

You staggered a couple paces from your assailant before your legs gave out on you.

"You no longer have the so called advantage, now get out of here."

The man, still wheezing as he tried to get his breath back, stumbled past you and your friend as he exited the alley.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you Yuugi."

Then you looked up at him and realized that he wasn't Yuugi. He was taller, his eyes were a different shape, and while he did have the same spiky hair style and gold bangs as Yuugi did, he also had some gold spikes along with the regular spikes. But he did sport the same chain and pendant as Yuugi.

"Wait, you're not Yuugi."

The Yuugi look alike chuckled a bit, "I get that a lot actually, and I'm surprised you were able to tell right away that the difference between us. Not many do, even though we aren't even twins. No, I'm not Yuugi, I'm his brother Atem. And judging from your appearance and the fact you know Yuugi, you must be (L/N) (F/N). It's nice to meet you at last."

He smiled softly at you and held his hand out to help you up.

You blushed a little as you took his hand.

"Yuugi's told you about me?"

"Yes, quite often actually." He pulled you up with little effort. "I think he wanted to keep my mind occupied while I was sick. And it worked; I've been looking forward to meeting you. I was glad when you agreed to hang out with the gang today."

Your head shot up in remembrance, "Oh yeah, they're probably waiting for us by now. We should go."

You turned and walked towards the street, coming out before Atem to find everyone there waiting.

Yuugi's face lit up when he saw you. "(F/N)-chan, there you are. We were getting worried. Now all we have to do is wait for….."

At that moment Atem came out of the alley looking at one of his Duel Monster cards.

Jonouchi looked suspicious in an instant, "Hey Atem, what were you doing with (F/N) in an alley?"

With that question Atem's face reddened along with yours.

You were quick to try and reassure everyone, "No, no, no, it was nothing like that. You see there was a mugger and…."

"What? A mugger? Are you alright?" Honda was the quickest to express his concern.

"I'd say he was more than a mugger (F/N)-san," said Atem, sending everyone's worry through the roof.

"What? What happened (F/N)?"

Yuugi looked worried so you quickly explained to your friends what had occurred and how Atem had saved you.

"Good thing Atem came when he did," Anzu commented.

"Yeah," agreed Yuugi. "By the way Atem-nii, did you get a new card? Is that why you're studying that one like that?"

"No, it's one I found in the alley here. Someone must have dropped it recently since it isn't dirty or damaged."

"Oh, which one is it?"

"Master Hyperion."

You gasped and looked in your purse and found that your duel deck container had been damaged. So you pulled out your cards to see if all of them were there. One was missing.

"He's mine. He must have fallen out during the commotion."

"(F/N)-chan, you play Duel Monsters?" Yuugi asked in surprise.

You realized you never had mentioned it and rubbed the back of your head, embarrassed.

"Heh, yeah I do."

"Master Hyperion is pretty strong," commented Atem. "Can you handle him?"

That irritated you and you glared at Atem.

"Of course I can. I wouldn't dare have him in my deck if I couldn't."

Atem looked surprised, and then his expression softened as he extended the card out to you. "Of course. Sorry, that was rude."

You took Master Hyperion back and looked at the card fondly, thinking of all the happy memories he inspired. Almost without thinking you said, "He was my father's card. And I practiced long and hard to prove to him that I was worthy of having him in my deck."

There was a silent pause, and then Yuugi broke the silence, "Sounds like you have quite a bond with your cards."

Your face turned a beet red and you put Master Hyperion with the rest of your deck. Everyone back in Yonaguni always made fun of you for talking about your cards like that.

"Ah, you don't have to be embarrassed (F/N)," assured Jonouchi. "You should hear Yuugi talk about his deck."

"Oh yeah? And who was it that was rubbing his Red-Eyes Black Dragon against his face and talking baby talk to it before Battle City?"

Jonouchi looked away, "No idea."

Everyone laughed heartily and Atem looked at you, "So you have a fairy deck (F/N)-san?"

"Yeah, I do. I really love the fairies in Duel Monsters. They have amazing abilities, and they're good and strong and don't always have to look like dainty little girls with butterfly wings. Plus since everyone associates fairies along that line, they tend to underestimate my deck."

"That's very true," agreed Yuugi. "We should have a duel sometime."

"Really? I would love that."

"Great, but I've got to ask. If you wanted a duel, why didn't you say so?

"Well…..I was afraid that if I challenged you too soon after meeting you, you'd think that was the only reason I made friends with you."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't think that. I can tell you're a true friend of ours." Yuugi smiled sweetly at you and your heart melted.

You smiled back, "Thank you Yuugi."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if you didn't like that the reader was too scared to fight back against the mugger, but that's how I put things here. Anyways, I love making Atem the hero in this one, it was rather fun. **

**Duels shall be ensuing in the next chapter, so look forward to those. It's going to be very fun.**

**Dang, I usually like to say a little more than what I am here but I can't think of more right now. So look forward to the next chapter**


	3. The Duel

Shortly after the whole incident with the mugger and explanations, you soon were dragged off to the arcade where Anzu challenged you to a dancing duel game. You of course lost that one since you didn't dance much and Anzu's dream was to be a dancer in America. You and your friends played several games, then moved on to a museum, looking at an Egyptian exhibit. After that you all went to a burger restaurant called Burger World. The burgers were pretty good actually.

Your friends seemed to have a private joke when Anzu offered to pour ketchup for Yuugi and Jonouchi. They hastily declined, then they all started laughing. You didn't get the joke, but it didn't matter all that much. You were having a great day with your friends.

Jonouchi turned to you, "Hey, after you finish dueling Yuugi, you think you'd go against me?"

You laughed, "Sure, but not right afterwards. After Yuugi defeats me I'll have to let my bruised ego take a break."

"You so sure I'll win?" Yuugi asked.

"Well, yeah, you're the King of Games, of course you'll win. But it'll still be fun, and maybe I'll learn something from our game."

"The game is never decided till the last card is played," Atem stated. "Never be too sure of the outcome before you even play."

"Yeah, maybe you're right." But you still had doubts of your chance of winning.

"Well, since we're here and there's a dueling arena nearby how about we play now and then call it a day?" Yuugi asked.

"Already?" All of a sudden you were a little nervous.

"Yeah, I wanna see the rest of your deck and check out your skills." Jonouchi said with all the eagerness of a child.

"Yes, it'll be good to see the strategies of someone new." Even Atem agreed you should do it. Well, how could you say no to that?

"Alright then, let's do it."

You all soon finished your meal there and then walked a couple blocks to a nearby game center. Even before you arrived at the arenas, Yuugi, and probably Jonouchi as well, were drawing attention. And when it was obvious that he was going to have a duel, a crowd came to watch excitedly.

A guy with long black hair in a pony tail, a red vest, and a black and red diamond head band came over to talk to Jonouchi, Anzu, and Atem while you and Yuugi stepped onto the platforms for the duel. That was rather unusual since no one else was approaching them, but you figured he must be a friend or something like that.

"Sorry about everyone coming to watch (F/N)-chan," Yuugi said apologetically."

"It's alright, I should have expected it. You ready?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah, Duel Start!"

"Duel Start."

As the life points deteriated to 0, there was a stunned silence for several seconds. You could literally hear everyone breathing. Then a lone voice broke out cheerfully, "That was amazing (F/N)-chan!"

You stared at Yuugi, still too shocked to say anything as Anzu, Honda, Jonouchi, and the other guy with them surrounded you, all talking at once.

As they did, you watched Yuugi carefully, afraid that Yuugi would take it bad that you beat him at his favorite game. But as you should have known, your fears seemed groundless a. Yuugi was smiling brightly as he gathered up his cards and then ran towards you.

As Yuugi passed Atem on his way over, your eyes stayed on Atem. You didn't know Atem all that well yet and you worried he would be angry on his brother's behalf. He didn't seem too upset and it also looked like he had a ghost of a smile curving his lips, but it was hard to tell at this distance.

Finally, you turned away while picking up your own cards and looked at your friends. While you had been looking at Yuugi and Atem, dozens of strangers had surrounded you. You couldn't hear what they were saying partly because they were talking over each other, and partly because your mind was becoming overwhelmed.

You were a small town girl and weren't used to all the attention. Even when you first were introduced in Domino High you hadn't been surrounded like this.

Anzu must have seen your partial panic and grabbed your hand, pulling you away from the crowd with a firm hand.

People tried to follow you, but the boys were finally figuring out how uncomfortable you were and formed a barrier between you and the mob. As a result, you and Anzu were able to make it out of the building and around a corner.

"Whew, thank you Anzu. That was hectic."

"Yeah, well that's to be expected since you just beat the King of Games in a Deuel Monsters duel." Anzu turned to you and smiled. "That was amazing by the way. I haven't seen Yuugi lose in a duel except under extreme circumstances."

Anzu turned back around to look around the corner to signal the boys where you were when they came out. Doing so, she missed your blush.

You had never expected to beat Yuugi in Duel Monsters. Sure you were the strongest player in Yonaguni. But it was just a small town and you had no way to test yourself against the best. So you couldn't know just how strong you were. But you didn't think you'd ever be even to the level of Insector Haga or Dinosaur Ryuuzaki.

Then Anzu's arm shot out, waving your location to the boys you suspected. And it turned out that you were right and the four boys joined you.

"Oh boy, I can't wait till Kaiba finds out someone beat Yuugi. Especially when it's a girl." Jonouchi chuckled to himself.

You rested your fist on your hips and said hotly, "Are you trying to say that girls cannot be strong duelists?"

Jonouchi stopped laughing and looked at you incredulously, and with a touch of fear, "No, not at all."

Honda laughed and elbowed Jonouchi good naturedly, "You'd never hear the end of it from Mai if you did."

You were surprised to see Jonouchi blush a little.

"Are you guys friends with Kujaku Mai as well?"

Your five friends turned to look at you in surprise.

Jonouchi grinned and held his chin, "You could say that."

Honda grinned and tapped Jonouchi with his elbow, "It's more than just friendship for you, huh Jonouchi?"

Jonouchi's face reddened, then he turned and grabbed the front of Honda's shirt, "Try saying that again."

You laughed along with everyone else, so that's how the wind blew huh?

"So, um, who was that guy you guys were talking to in there, the one with the pony tail and headband?"

Anzu turned towards you, "Oh, that was Otogi Ryuji, his family owns the game shop we were in."

"Oh, makes sense you would be friends with him then."

It seemed that Honda wasn't done teasing Jonouchi, "Heh heh, didn't start out that way, huh Jonouchi."

"Don't even think of mentioning that!" Jonouchi wrapped his arm around Honda's neck and pulled him into a headlock.

You all laughed again and you wondered what had happened. But you figured that it was doubtless something embarrassing to Jonouchi and so you should ask when he wasn't around.

Yuugi turned toward you when the laughter died down, "Anyways (F/N)-chan, how did you learn to be so good at Duel Monsters?"

You looked at Yuugi, still a little worried he'd be resentful of you winning the duel. But as before, there didn't appear to be any negative emotions, just genuine interest.

"My father taught me."

"Oh, what's your father's name?"

"(Father's name)."

"Hmmm, I don't think I recognize that name. I was thinking maybe he'd be a famous duelist."

"Oh no, Duel Monsters is just a fun hobby for him. So my dad and I would play against each other often once I showed an interest in Dueling."

"Well, he did a good job training you."

"He'll be pleased to hear you said that."

"Ha ha, I still can't wait for Kaiba to hear the news," Jonouchi had let go of Honda and was chuckling to himself again.

"And why's that?" you asked, puzzled.

"Kaiba doesn't believe anyone deserves to defeat Yuugi except himself and is resentful when it looks like someone might. He'll probably through a fuse when he learns someone has."

"Oh, I see."

That wasn't how you had pictured meeting Kaiba Seto. You had thought maybe you'd see him at an even he would be hosting and that was it. You couldn't have imagined him taking any kind of interest in you because from what you had heard about him, it sounded like he was rather arrogant and not many interests except for dueling. You had never imagined he'd take any kind of interest in you just because you had beaten Yuugi. In fact, you had never imagined you'd ever beat Yuugi. You were still in relative shock about that anyways.

"Um…..Yuugi?" You couldn't help it, you had to ask this.

"Yes (F/N)-chan?"

"You don't hate me now do you? For beating you?"

He looked surprised, "Of course not, why would I?"

Without answering Yuugi's question you turned to the others. "Do any of you?"

They all looked at you genuinely puzzled, "No, why?"

You blew out a sigh of relief and said to Yuugi, "Many people, especially champions, take it badly if they're beaten at the game they specialize in." You turned to everyone else, "And you guys could have been upset that a new comer defeated your friend that you've known a lot longer than me. I wasn't sure how you'd react. Especially you Atem, since Yuugi is your brother and you've known me an even shorter amount of time than everyone else."

Everyone smiled their own unique smiles at you, "No need to worry (F/N), none of us are like that," Anzu assured you.

You could almost feel tears in your eyes as you smiled back. But you wouldn't let them show, "Thanks you guys."

"Besides, now you've given someone else that can challenge him. Not many can anymore." Anzu commented.

Yuugi laughed in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his head.

Jonouchi piped up, "I'd still like a chance to duel you sometime."

"Sure, but let's not make it a public duel please. If I were to win again, I don't want something like this happening again if I can help it."

"What do you mean "if"? Yuugi is better than me and you beat him. What makes you think you can't beat me?"

"Who knows if this was just a fluke? As Atem said earlier "The game is never decided till the last card is played"."

"Stealing my words now (F/N)?"

You chuckled a little nervously, then gulped a little as your heart gave a little thump at the sight of his smile.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, that one took a while to write. Sorry about that, I had moved to a new apartment, and then it took me a while to figure out exactly what Atem said at the end. In the last chapter Yuugi made your heart melt, and in this one I wanted to make Atem make your heart thump. So right now the romance can go both ways, lol.**

**So how many of you were expecting to beat Yuugi at Duel Monsters? I hope I surprised at least some of you. And sorry I didn't write out the duel. I'm not all that experienced in playing Duel Monsters and it would also take way too long to write out the duel.**

**For those of you who are Ryuji Otogi (Duke Devlin) fans, sorry I didn't put more of him in, but I couldn't figure out how to make it work with him coming out of the game center with the others. And I'm also not sure he'll come into play next chapter either.**

**I will be able to put you meeting Kaiba in the next chapter though.**

**Stupid chapter title I know, anyone have any suggestions for a different title?**

**So I believe the next chapter will be the last one in this series, but I'm not 100% sure, we'll see how it goes. Either way, look forward to it.**


	4. Decisions

The next while was rather stressful for you.

First off, naturally it got out that you had beaten Yuugi at Duel Monsters. The people at the arena didn't know you, but had described you to others. And your classmates had recognized the description.

* * *

"Hey, is it true you beat Moto Yuugi at Duel Monsters?"

Being questioned by one of your classmates between classes startled you into silence for a few seconds.

"Uh, yes. But how…."

The boy didn't even let you finish the question before he barraged you with questions of his own, starting with "How did you do that?"

Then of course the rest of the class heard and once again peopled swarmed around you that you didn't know.

"Leave her alone you guys." Jonouchi came over and everyone backed away.

* * *

Ever since then Jonouchi , Honda, and even Anzu a few times never left your side during school and kept most people away from you.

Then also came the day that Kaiba Seto came to you.

* * *

As you and the gang were walking home from school, a black limousine pulled up beside you.

"Uh oh," said Yuugi concerned. "Here's Kaiba-kun."

And sure enough, Kaiba Seto stepped out of the limo, arrogance just radiating from his tall form enveloped in a white trench coat. Another shorter boy with long black hair also climbed out, but Kaiba Seto demanded all your attention.

He looked straight at you, rudely ignoring everyone else. "You're (L/N) (F/N)?"

You nodded mutely, unable to speak anything. But Jonouchi had no such limitations on his tongue.

"Yeah, that's right. She's (F/N). And she defeated Yuugi when you've never been able to."

That jolted you out of your silence. "Jonouchi!" No need to antagonize him after all.

But Kaiba just ignored him, "You don't look like much, but then neither does Yuugi."

The small boy beside Kaiba spoke up, "Nii-sama, no need to be rude."

So this was Kaiba's younger brother Mokuba. You had heard that the Kaiba brothers were incredibly close and would literally do anything for each other.

"Know this (L/N) (F/N), defeating Moto Yuugi had been a fluke, and I intend to prove it by challenging you to a duel."

Wow, it seemed that Jonouchi was right, Kaiba Seto didn't want anyone to beat Yuugi except for him, he was rather scary.

"She doesn't have to duel you if she doesn't want to," Honda sprang to your defense.

Everyone spoke up in agreement, but you and Kaiba just stared at each other. In his eyes you saw grim determination. You knew that if you said no now, he would just keep coming after you till you gave him the duel he wanted.

You sighed in resignation, "Fine, I'll duel you."

Your friends turned to you in surprise.

"(L/N)-san, you really don't have to." Yuugi said.

"I know, but if I tell him no, he'll just keep asking till he and I duel. So isn't it better to just get it out of the way? Besides, I agree with him that it was just a fluke that I won. I don't believe I'm better than Yuugi."

Your friends looked even more surprised than before. Even Kaiba's eyes widened a bit. You supposed he thought you'd be more confident that you'd beat him since you beat Yuugi.

"But I don't want another public duel. One was enough thank you."

"Except in tournaments, I don't duel in front of others anyways. Meet me at the Kaiba Dome in Kaiba Land in one hour. We'll have your duel there."

* * *

To your immense surprise, you defeated Kaiba Seto in Duel Monsters just as you had beat Moto Yuugi; the two most prominent players in Duel Monster history.

Kaiba of course didn't take it well, glaring at you with such intensity when you defeated his Ultimate Blue-Eyes White Dragon that you were rather scared.

Luckily it wasn't a public duel so nobody besides your friends knew you defeated Kaiba as well as Yuugi. But even so, you had received a message from Pegasus J. Crawford himself, the creator of Duel Monsters, congratulating you for both your battles.

And the last issue was the most stressful, and the one you didn't know what to do about.

Both Yuugi and Atem were acting very strangely towards you.

To all appearances Yuugi wasn't treating you too different than before: laughing at your jokes, inviting you to go places with everyone else, and all the things he did before. But he's been doing to more often. And what's more, both Atem and Anzu would get this look on their faces. Atem would most often send a quick sideways glare at Yuugi, and Anzu would offer her own glare at either you or Yuugi. You couldn't figure out why, he was just being friendly.

You hadn't known Atem as long as the others, so it took you a little longer to figure out he was acting strange. But sometimes he would do or say something and the others would give him a startled look, as if it was something he wouldn't normally say or do. He also seemed to spend more time with you than anyone else. Also, some of the things he would do would cause Yuugi to send a glare of his own to his brother.

Those two boys certainly were strange, you just couldn't figure them out.

You were still wondering about the strange behavior of the boys as you packed up your stuff after school one day. You hadn't been able to find one of your text books and ended up emptying your entire bag before you found it. As a result it took a while to pack all your things back in. So you were alone in the room when Yuugi came up to you.

"Hi Yuugi, I'm almost done here."

"It's alright (F/N)-chan. I was actually wanting to ask you something."

"What is it?" you looked up at your friend and saw he was nervous about something.

"Um..well. Would you like to go to the movies?"

"Yeah, that'll be fun. Which one are you guys going to?"

"Um, well. I was thinking that it'll be just us two."

You stared at Yuugi in surprise. Just the two of you? Why? He always hung out with everyone together. Then it dawned on you, his strange behavior the last while, the odd request to go out together. Yuugi had developed feelings for you.

You searched your own feelings for him, and smiled a sad smile.

"I'm sorry Yuugi. I do like you, but only on a friend level."

Yuugi looked at you for a few seconds, then looked down. "I see."

You couldn't help it, you hated hurting your friend, so you got up from your chair and wrapped your arms around him.

"I'm really sorry Yuugi. You are a great guy; caring, sweet, brave and considerate. Any girl would be lucky to have you. I just don't think I'm that lucky girl."

Yuugi looked up at you, sadness still peeping out of his eyes, but he was also smiling. "Thanks (F/N)-chan."

A soft noise drew your attention to the doorway. You saw Anzu standing there looking both hurt, and relieved. With that look you realized why Anzu would glare at both you and Yuugi.

Yuugi hadn't noticed her yet and you weren't about to tell him. I would just make things awkward. But you resolved to do a little match making in the future. You winked at Anzu then pulled away from the hug and picked up your now full bag.

"Well, I gotta get going now Yuugi. I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

"Ok (F/N)-chan, and thank you for being honest with me."

You smiled at him and left.

As soon as you were out of the school, you sighed in relief. That situation could have been a lot worse. But you had meant what you said. You knew you could never love Yuugi the way he deserved from a girlfriend, and you couldn't just go along with it to make him happy. Because then the relationship would be a lie and would eventually end badly for both of you.

Your route home took you beside a park, and today you decided to walk through it instead of just beside it. You hadn't visited this particular park before, and it was about time that you had.

It was a nice park, plenty of open room for sports fanatics, plus a lot of park toys for the younger kids. There was also a lot of paved walk way and plenty of benches for people to sit on.

But as you walked along you decided not to sit on a bench, but to lay down under a tree and just relax. And you did just that under a large oak tree.

As you laid there you gazed at the emerald tapestry that the tree leaves painted against the blue canvas of the sky. It was nice to just relax sometimes.

"Well hello there."

The familiar voice started you out of your contemplation, then you saw Atem standing beside you, and unexpectedly your heart jumped.

"Oh, hi Atem." You sat up to cover up your confusion with the unexpected thump.

"No, don't get up on my account. Would you mind if I joined you though."

"Not at all." You moved over to make sure there was room enough for him under the tree.

For a while things were quiet between the two of you, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. It was rather nice actually; you realized you haven't had much time to spend one on one time with your friends.

"So why didn't you leave along with everyone else?" Atem asked you.

"I had dumped out all my stuff to find something in my bag and by the time I finished putting it all back in, everyone was gone."

You weren't going to mention the conversation between you and Yuugi.

"You seem a little quiet and distracted for the moment, is everything alright?"

You paused a little, "Yeah, everything is fine."

He chuckled a little, you supposed you were a little obvious with that pause, "You want to duel to take your mind off of things?

You practically leaped up off the ground, "Yes, that would be great." Then you said in a teasing voice, "But I warn you, I've defeated the two legends of the game."

Atem laughed as he sat up, hearing the teasing tone of your voice. "Yes, you have. But I warn you, I'm better than my brother."

That surprised you, was that a typical male boast, or was that fact? If it was fact then why wasn't he the one that was champion?"

Well, you guessed it was none of your business so you set up your side of the game while he set up his.

You both looked at each other and said at the same time, "Duel Start"

You grinned as Atem laid down his last card and you counted your life points down to 0.

"Wonderful, thank you. That was a great game Atem."

"Yes, it was, and let me say you weren't easy to defeat. I know you think it was just a fluke that you won against Yuugi and Kaiba. But from watching Kaiba, and playing against you and Yuugi, I can tell you really are more skilled than they are."

You stared at Atem in shock, he couldn't be serious. But as you continued to look at his face, you could see how serious he was. You also remember that he wasn't the type to make a joke like this. And judging by his obvious skill, he was very experienced in Duel Monsters.

"Really?" you whispered.

"Yes, you are."

You bit your lip lightly in thought. You couldn't believe it, how had that happened? There wasn't much competition in your hometown with it being so small. The only real competition had been your dad, but he was no longer a challenge.

Another thought occurred to you. If you truly were better than Yuugi, you could be a champion; you could be famous and travel all over the place for tournaments. But then you remembered the press of people around you when you defeated Yuugi, and knew that would just be the tip of the iceberg if you competed.

"Well," you said as you looked back at Atem, who was looking intently at you. "I don't think Yuugi will have competition from me in a tournament."

Atem relaxed his expression slightly, "You don't want to duel in official tournaments? You'd win."

"Nah, I had a small taste of that when I dueled Yuugi. I don't want to go through that again."

Atem's face broke into a smile, "Good, I'm glad."

"Why?" you asked. Then wanting to tease him a little you said, "Don't want me to make your brother look bad?"

"It would mean you'd be gone a lot, I'd miss you."

"I'd miss you too," you said smiling at him.

Your heart fluttered slightly as he smiled back, and you realized something. You had originally said that in a friendly way, as in the way you'd miss all your friends. But then you knew that you'd miss Atem most of all. You'd miss Atem's subtle sense of humor, his soft smile and his determination to protect his friends in a non-violent way.

You blush as you noticed Atem was still smiling at you.

"Well, I think I should be getting home." You stood up, "See you around."

You began to walk away, but it didn't take long for Atem to fall into step beside you.

"I'll walk you home."

You smiled, "Alright then."

After only a few steps, you felt Atem's warm hand gently take yours within, and you walked the rest of the way home like that.

* * *

**A/N: Oh wow, I finally uploaded the next and final chapter of this fanfic. I'm so sorry it took so long peoples, I've had an incredibly busy time lately and really hadn't had time to write. But I finally finished this one and also a couple others. I'll be posting those soon as well. One of them is an entirely new one from an anime I've never written before, and the other one is the next chapter in my Policeman Rin story.**

**Once again I think it's a lame title, but I'm not feeling so well right now so my brain isn't wanting to function in it's full creative capacity. If you guys have any suggestions I'd welcome them.**

**If you guys think that I wrote Yu-Gi-Oh!, then you guys are pretty dang dumb. Or maybe I should think of it as a compliment that you think this is as good as the original stuff. Anyways, the thing is, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!**


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